I want to start off by saying that I am so sorry that your child has been injured while attending their daycare. It’s not fair for your child, and it’s not fair for you - the working parents. You trusted the facility to hire qualified daycare employees to prevent any dangers from occurring to your child.

Please read about the importance of making incident reports for a daycare negligence investigation.

The Importance Of Incident Reports When Daycare Injury Or Abuse Is Involved:

The first and most important step is to request the daycare to create an incident report. No matter how small or serious the injury is, an incident report should be a detailed report of what happened, when it happened, how it happened and what teachers’ care your child was under. It’s better to get this incident report when the event is fresh in everyone’s mind.

Another important reason to request an incident report is that daycare centers tend to downplay the situation to protect themselves. If a case were to arise from the injury and they were to change their story on what happened months after, the incident report will (hopefully) have the truth. This happens way too often.

Making a report on a daycare facility is not only limited to injuries. A teachers’ bad behavior at a facility can be reported as well as it’s essential to our children's psychological growth. If all our kids see at daycare is aggression, anger, and annoyance from their teacher, that’s what they will catch on to and portray at home.

What Should I Do If They Don't Want To Give Me An Incident Report For My Kid's Daycare Injury?

There have been instances where parents want to do an incident report and the daycare tells them that they only do incident reports on serious injuries. This is not good or safe. Every incident should be recorded as the parents have the right to know.

If the daycare does not want to give you an incident report, make one yourself:

Take a piece of paper and write out the date and what happened (to your best understanding) and when it happened (time) and where (daycare facility and exactly what part of the daycare facility).

Include details you were told and how the staff acted.

Include details of how you found out.

Sign it, make a copy and hand them a copy, but you keep the original. This is to ensure that you know it exists. If you do this but give the daycare facility your only copy, it may not exist later on.

Write down the name of the person that you handed it to – first and last name

It’s very important that you ask for a copy of the incident report. Daycares are supposed to keep copies but often times don’t. Another reason to keep the incident report is if you are planning on taking your child out, they will not have the record in hand when a lawyer gets involved.

We have a full guide for parents who need to report a daycare injury. You can request your free e-version copy with the link that will be provided below. You also have the option to request a free paper copy to be sent to your home. We created this guide so parents can be informed of their rights and know what correct steps to take when dealing with a daycare injury. We hope it is helpful to you and your family.

How Long Will It Take Before I Receive The Incident Report From The Daycare?

You will typically receive the incident report anywhere from 15 to 45 day. Once it’s finished, the family will receive a letter in the mail. In that letter, the family has the option to do an open record request to receive the investigation materials to see what caused an injury to their child.

Don’t Fall For A Daycare’s Typical Defense Towards Injuries: “Kids Will Be Kids”

When an injury does occur, teachers and caregivers like to say “kids will be kids” and a lot of the times did not let a parent know that their child was injured to avoid getting in trouble with their facility. No one has a right to fail to disclose to a kid’s parents what happened. Many bad daycare centers are still up and running because no one wants to speak up about an injury fearing that their kid will get kicked out. Until they are held accountable, it will continue to happen. We want to see it stopped.
When a child is injured while at daycare, the staff of the daycare likes to believe that “kids will be kids” and won’t let parents know that an injury happened to not get in trouble with the facility. The daycare does not have a right to not tell a parent that their child was injured. Unfortunately, many daycare facilities often do this and are still up and running with no consequence and they will continue to do it until they are held accountable.

How Can The Button Law Firm Help?

Each case is different and the injuries affect each kid and their family differently which is why we make sure to independently analyze each injury and the effect it has had on the family.

The following damages are allowed under a daycare case:

Medical expenses from the past and the future

Lost work for the parents to care for the child

Mental anguish for the kids and physical impairment of their daily activities

If your child is receiving or has received medical treatment for their daycare injuries, you may have to pay the medical providers back or reimburse them under the law for injuries caused by a third-party.

If you have health insurance, Medicaid, or Medicare that covers your child’s injuries, they will need to be paid back for what was paid out for injuries related to the case, which is also called subrogation or reimbursement. We handle this as it is complex and can be time-consuming as there are a lot of hoops to jump through. Check out our article on Medical Bills that have accumulated due to a daycare injury.

If you are currently dealing with an injury to your child due to the daycare's negligence, please give us a call at 214-888-2216. You can also fill out our Contact Us form. We are here for you and your family and want to help you make the best decision through free legal information.